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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Today marks the anniversary of the Apollo 11 spaceflight. On this day in 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon. So to commemorate such an event, I decided to do some quick nail art!

Now I know this nail art isn't perfect, but I tried within the time frame I had last night. I pretty much was just going for the surface of the moon with an astronaut, the American flag, and the Earth off in the distance.

I didn't want the background to be too plain and just be solid black, so I used Rainbow Honey's Oruha for my base. I then used Rainbow Honey Birdcage for the surface of the moon, and for my thumb. I used various other colors for details including OPI OPI Red (flag), Pure Ice French Kiss (flag and Earth), Revlon Posh (Earth), Milani Just Grayt (astronaut), Zoya Purity (flag, astronaut, and Earth), and Zoya Brooklyn (astronaut).

I freehanded everything, so the linework isn't the best, but I'm still loving how festive it is. I also didn't use any fine brushes, just a small dotting tool to try and place paint and move it around as needed. I topped everything with one coat of Seche Vite to even it all out and add a nice shine too.

So there you have it! I thought I'd share my quick nail art before I go to a moon landing themed party to celebrate. :)

Friday, July 18, 2014

Good evening! I'm posting a bit late today since today is the day that Rainbow Honey is releasing the Summer Mixtape collection at 10 PM EST! I was lucky enough to receive some samples from this collection to try out, and they got me super excited to see the rest of the polishes!

Products sent for review. All opinions are my own.

The three polishes I was sent are (from left to right) Elevate, Control, and Shark Attack. I was stunned upon opening the package to see these beauties! Especially Elevate, which has triangular glitter pieces inside.

Shark Attack is a gorgeous blue glitter bomb. The glitter inside is mostly deep blue medium hexes, silver hexes, and even smaller silver and red hexes for contrast. Best of all, it has some large squares and even some large triangles! You can see a couple of the triangles on the index nail.

Shark Attack has a blue tinted jelly base, but I applied it over a couple blue cremes instead of building it up entirely. I applied it over Rainbow Honey's own Prussian Sky (which also has slight shimmer) on my index, middle, and pinky, and then applied it over Charaxes on my ring finger nail as an accent. You can see how lighter glitter pieces show up on Charaxes and darker ones show up a little better on Prussian Sky - this polish is filled with all sorts of shakes of blue!

Control is a polish that was a bit deceiving to me - but in a good way! At first glance, it looked like a pretty normal pink polish, but really it's a gorgeous neon fuchsia that's very shimmery! The shimmer is both purplish and goldish, and gives an amazing pearlescent sheen to it.

I applied two coats of Control with no base coat and got amazing coverage. Since the polish is also very bright and somewhat neon, it also dries a bit matte! Not completely though, I'd call it more of a "wax" or partial matte finish. I also decided to dress up an accent nail with Elevate, and I'm loving this combination!

And finally, Elevate. Elevate is a stunning glitter topcoat that has a clear base. It is very cool toned, and has lots of blue and white glitters in it - the base even has a blue shimmer to it! This is a completely crazy glitter bomb, and that's why I love it. Among the "normal" medium blue hexes are pink squares, green circles, yellow circles, white triangles, and larger hexes too. All sorts of fun colors and shapes - and I'm really loving the circles and triangles!

I applied Elevate over a couple of cremes so you could see the shimmer that it adds. I applied it over Rainbow Honey Heron 36 and Charaxes. It got a little thick when I applied it a little too generously over Charaxes, but otherwise it applied well and I got a great variety of glitter without trying.

In general, I am loving these polishes. I am honestly a big fan of Rainbow Honey's polishes, and would highly recommend these! I will be looking out for the rest of the collection and purchasing it myself!

The Summer Mixtape collection will be released very soon - tonight at 10 PM EST! If you're interested in purchasing, don't forget to use code MIXTAPE20 to get 20% off your entire order! (This code is actually good until 8/18!). Don't forget that orders over $50 ship for free and orders over $65 will also get free mystery grab bags!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

A while back, I got this gorgeous polish from Rainbow Honey. It's a beautiful combination of colors, and it's both light and springy but also bright and summery. So I decided to try it out!

The polish is called Petit Four, and I received it in a full size mystery bag that I purchased from Rainbow Honey. The polish is a creamy pale yellow base with a bit of shimmer, along with large reddish squares, medium reddish and turquoise hexes, and even some tinier bits of glitter.

I didn't get too many of the large pieces of glitter onto my nails, but I did get a variety of the smaller pieces inside. You can see I mostly ended up with medium and small hexes on each nail.

I applied two coats of Petit Four, but probably could have used a third, or should have applied it over a base color. The polish covers great for a pale yellow cream though, I just didn't apply very thick coats! But it covered nicely, and since it's not super opaque, it adds a little depth where you can see the glitter in the first coat.

I'm very happy with this polish! Unfortunately I don't think you can purchase this one on its own right now, but you can still buy some of the previous mystery bags that it came in! Mystery bags can be purchased at rainbowhoney.com.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

I'm continuing my nail art spree this week! Once again, I have something interesting from Born Pretty Store to share with you all. I've been trying out a lot of new products from them, things that I have zero experience with, and yet everything is turning out great! I love how inexpensive yet fun their nail art products are.

Products sent for review. All opinions are my own.

This time I got some water decals to try out. I have never actually used water decals, but had the impression that they work somewhat like temporary tattoos. This is somewhat true, and they are super easy to apply!

I chose the above pattern, which is sort of a nude color with various red birds and green and white flowers. So for my base color, I painted most of my nails with two coats of Zoya Jacqueline, and also did my ring finger and thumb as accent nails with Zoya Rocha.

After waiting for all of my nails to dry (and I did not apply topcoat yet) I cut apart the water decals. They come in one sheet, so I separated parts for each individual nail. I then submerged each piece (working one nail at a time) in water for about 20 seconds. I then pressed it onto the desired nail, which leaves the pattern on the nail. You will have a thin bit of cardboard to discard after.

I didn't really worry about cutting each pattern to fit the nail
perfectly - I just separated each rectangular pattern. This worked out,
since even if you get the pattern on the surrounding skin, it cleans up
with acetone or nail polish remover very easily. This saves the trouble of trying to make them fit each nail before applying!

After applying them all, I carefully applied a layer of topcoat. Be careful doing so though! The pattern is very delicate, and you may smear it or rub part of it off. Either do not apply topcoat, or do one gentle swipe - don't keep brushing the same area multiple times and you should be fine.

These water decals are currently $2.86 per sheet, but they leave you with a very unique manicure! I chose design 1594 for this post. You can also get 10% off if you use code BCL91 at checkout. Don't forget Born Pretty Store has free shipping worldwide!

Sunday, July 13, 2014

I was lucky enough to get to try out a couple more products from Born Pretty Store, so my nail art kick continues! Last time I tried out some pastel studs, but this time I have neon nail stickers.

Products sent for review. All opinions are my own.

There are a few different designs for these neon nail decals, but I chose what they call design number 1. The decals consist of strips of neon chevrons and loop-de-loops, or "squiggly"designs, if you will. For this manicure, I just used the chevrons though - I love chevron patterns!

I wanted to see what the neon decals would look like over a few colors. I mostly debated between black and white, but I also love neon paired with gray, so I did all three! I used Zoya Purity (white), Rainbow Honey Heron 36 (gray), and Rainbow Honey Nyx (black).

I started by painting each nail with a couple coats of each color. I waited for them to dry completely with no topcoat before applying the decals. I then cut the strips into thirds - it seems each strip can cover three nails (depending on how wide yours are) almost perfectly. Size accordingly for larger nails (thumbs) and smaller nails (pinkies)!

The decals applied really easily. They adhere really well, so once they are on, they're not going anywhere! I did apply a thin layer of topcoat on top just to be sure though, and to help smooth them out. They don't stand up too much, and they're also somewhat plastic-y, so they can withstand a wet topcoat being applied on top of them. I didn't even use the whole sheet between both hands, so I have enough for a second full manicure in the future!

These neon decals come in a few different designs and are $1.59 per sheet. You can also get 10% off if you use code BCL91 at checkout. Don't forget Born Pretty Store has free shipping worldwide!

Friday, July 11, 2014

I haven't really done any nail art recently, so I decided to try and get back into it! I was sent some of these pastel studs from Born Pretty Store to review, and I was trying to think of a good way to review them. Well, the first thing I thought of when I saw the square studs was Tetris, so I did some little Tetris blocks!

Products sent for review. All opinions are my own.

The little studs came in a nail wheel with six different colors. If you're unfamiliar with these wheels, you can see about how large it is below - about the size of the palm of my hand. Each color has both circular and square studs, and each stud is about 2mm in width. I didn't use the circular ones for this manicure, just the squares, but I'll be sure to use them for something in the future!

I started off by painting each nail with one coat of Zoya Purity and let them all dry. Then, I did each nail separately. I would apply a second coat to a nail, and then carefully place the studs right onto the wet paint with tweezers. It's a little tedious, hence why the design isn't perfect, but hey I like it!

I used studs in each color to create various Tetris blocks.I didn't really plan them out and just sort of started building blocks up on each nail. I like the sort of "random" look to it though. For being placed right into wet paint, the studs seem pretty secure. Though I suppose if you're planning to wear them for a long time, you might want to use actual nail glue or apply a topcoat over them. I did not use a topcoat.

In general, I think these studs are great! I think they're very versatile and can be used as the "main attraction" in a design like this, or one or two studs on a nail can accent any other manicure great as well. I can't wait to try out the circular ones, perhaps over black polish!

The studs are currently $5.99 for a whole wheel - 400 studs in each wheel! You can also get 10% off if you use code BCL91 at checkout. Don't forget Born Pretty Store has free shipping worldwide!

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

I am so excited to share more Zoya Pixies with you! The newest addition to their growing collection of PixieDust polishes is these gorgeous Summer Pixies.

Products sent for review. All opinions are my own.

From left to right they are:

Bar - Nude Topaz Magical Pixie

Ginni - Pink Tourmaline Magical Pixie

Arlo - Violet Amethyst Magical Pixie

First up: Bar! Bar is a beautiful nude magical pixie. If some of the previous nude Pixies (such as Godiva or Tomoko) weren't enough sparkle for you, then Bar should be perfect! The amount of glitter in this polish is stunning, and while it's super sparkly, it's not insanely flashy since it blends with most skin tones. I used two coats of Bar and got full coverage.

Ginni is another subtle-colored magical Pixie. While it appears very pink in the bottle, this one almost blends with my skin tone as well! It is not a nude like Bar, but it is a light pink, so it is nice and rosy without being too bright. The base color itself is pretty sheer, but two coats of Ginni gave me great coverage. Even if it was a little thin in some areas, the colors blends great, so it looks nice as somewhat of a jelly.

Arlo is the one that stands out a bit more than the other two. Arlo is a pretty purple shade - a radiant orchid shade, if you will. The same purple that appears in the bottle is pretty much what you will get on your nails. It is not as subtle as the others. The greenish and reddish holographic glitter pieces really contrast with the purple base - I love this polish! I used two coats of Arlo and got great coverage.

In general, this is yet another collection from Zoya that I am more than happy with. The colors are great and super wearable, and are both not-too-flashy yet sparkly and pretty. I used no base colors and each polish covered great in two coats, and I used no topcoat either. They are pretty textured on their own, but if you would like to have the look without risking snagging any clothing, a topcoat goes on just fine and helps fill in some of the nooks and crannies without getting messy.

You can purchase the Summer Magical Pixies from Zoya.com for $10 each (full size bottles), or $30 for the set of three.

Since this polish is a topcoat, I applied it over a deep purple metallic base. I was going to apply it over just black, but I figured the metallic purplish-blue would add to the depth and crazy "spacey-ness" of it. The base color I used it Pop Beauty Midnight Minx.

The 603 Topcoat itself may have a name, but most of the bottle is in Russian, so I'm actually not sure! So I'll be referring to it as 603. 603 is a flakie topcoat. It has a clear base, and is made up of mostly three different colored flakies. I used one good coat in these photos.

The flakies inside of it are gorgeous - there are reddish-based flakies, as well as blue-based and green-based. All together, you get quite the spectrum of shiny colors. You can see how the reddish ones (almost like Essie Shine of the Times) turn yellow and greenish, while the blue flakies turn almost purple. Altogether, this is almost a dupe of Cult Nails Unicorn Puke.

At some angles it's difficult to tell which flakies are giving which colors, but between them all, you pretty much have the whole rainbow covered! I am in love with this topcoat and just can't get stop looking at it. I'm impressed and can't wait to try it over other colors!

Saturday, July 5, 2014

I hope all of my US readers had a wonderful and safe holiday yesterday! I was so busy myself that I didn't even get to do any patriotic nail art! So instead I decided to try out a polish that I ordered quite a while ago.

I ordered this polish from Russia, so it took a while to arrive! But it finally made it, safe and sound, and I am floored by how amazing it looks in person. This polish is called Wazowski (yes, named after Mike from Monsters Inc!) and is an amazing green multichome.

Wazowski is from Dance Legend, which is a Russian nail polish brand. If you order from their site, it might take about a month for your goods to arrive, but it's worth it! They have so may wonderful colors, and Wazowski and the rest of the multichromes from the same collection (all Monsters Inc related named) are gorgeous.

The bottle is a little on the small size. I think it is about 0.3oz, so it's essentially a mini. Each one is $8.00, but at least they cover really well too. I used just two coats of Wazowski and had amazing coverage. One coat was almost entirely opaque on its own! But I used two just to be sure, and to get some added depth.

I can't get over how gorgeous this polish is though! It's mostly green, but goes from yellowish-gold when viewed straight on, to different shades of blue from the sides. It is simply stunning and I can't wait to try the rest in the collection!